U.S. drought crisis

•September 3, 2012

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FILE - This NOAA satellite image taken Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, provided by the National Hurricane Center shows Category 2 Hurricane Sandy moving northward across eastern Cuba. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. in 2012 had the second most weather extremes on record, behind 1998. There were 11 different disasters that caused more than $1 billion in damage, including Superstorm Sandy and the drought, NOAA said. (AP Photo/NOAA)

Triple-digit temperatures and weeks without rain withered and destroyed many crops in the Midwest, sending commodity soybean and grain prices soaring in 2012.